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flot·sam 
Audio Help [flot-suhm] Pronunciation Key
Audio Help [flot-suhm] Pronunciation Key –noun
| 1. | the part of the wreckage of a ship and its cargo found floating on the water. Compare jetsam, lagan. |
| 2. | material or refuse floating on water. |
| 3. | useless or unimportant items; odds and ends. |
| 4. | a vagrant, penniless population: the flotsam of the city slums in medieval Europe. |
Also called flotsam and jetsam (for defs. 3, 4).
[Origin: 1600–10; < AF floteson, deriv. of floter to float < OE flotian]
] | Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
Flotsam
To learn more about Flotsam visit Britannica.com
| © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |
| flot·sam
Audio Help (flŏt'səm) Pronunciation Key
n.
[Anglo-Norman floteson, from Old French floter, to float, of Germanic origin; see pleu- in Indo-European roots.] Usage Note: In maritime law, flotsam applies to wreckage or cargo left floating on the sea after a shipwreck. Jetsam applies to cargo or equipment thrown overboard from a ship in distress and either sunk or washed ashore. The common phrase flotsam and jetsam is now used loosely to describe any objects found floating or washed ashore. |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
flotsam
1607, from Anglo-Fr. floteson, from O.Fr. flotaison "a floating," from floter "to float" (of Gmc. origin) + -aison, from L. -ation(em). Spelled flotsen till mid-19c. when it altered, perhaps under infl. of many Eng. words in -some. In British law, flotsam are goods found floating on the sea as a consequence of a shipwreck or action of wind or waves; jetsam are things cast out of a ship in danger of being wrecked, and afterward washed ashore, or things cast ashore by the sailors. Whatever sinks is lagan.
| Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper |
| flotsam | |
noun | |
| the floating wreckage of a ship |
| WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. |
Flotsam
Float\ (fl[=o]t), n.[OE. flote ship, boat, fleet, AS. flota ship, fr. fle['o]tan to float; akin to D. vloot fleet, G. floss raft, Icel. floti float, raft, fleet, Sw. flotta. [root] 84. See Fleet, v. i., and cf. Flotilla, Flotsam, Plover.]1. Anything which floats or rests on the surface of a fluid, as to sustain weight, or to indicate the height of the surface, or mark the place of, something. Specifically: (a) A mass of timber or boards fastened together, and conveyed down a stream by the current; a raft. (b) The hollow, metallic ball of a self-acting faucet, which floats upon the water in a cistern or boiler. (c) The cork or quill used in angling, to support the bait line, and indicate the bite of a fish. (d) Anything used to buoy up whatever is liable to sink; an inflated bag or pillow used by persons learning to swim; a life preserver. This reform bill . . . had been used as a float by the conservative ministry. --J. P. Peters. 2. A float board. See Float board (below). 3. (Tempering) A contrivance for affording a copious stream of water to the heated surface of an object of large bulk, as an anvil or die. --Knight. 4. The act of flowing; flux; flow. [Obs.] --Bacon. 5. A quantity of earth, eighteen feet square and one foot deep. [Obs.] --Mortimer. 6. (Plastering) The trowel or tool with which the floated coat of plastering is leveled and smoothed. 7. A polishing block used in marble working; a runner. --Knight. 8. A single-cut file for smoothing; a tool used by shoemakers for rasping off pegs inside a shoe. 9. A coal cart. [Eng.] --Simmonds. 10. The sea; a wave. See Flote, n. Float board, one of the boards fixed radially to the rim of an undershot water wheel or of a steamer's paddle wheel; -- a vane. Float case (Naut.), a caisson used for lifting a ship. Float copper or gold (Mining), fine particles of metallic copper or of gold suspended in water, and thus liable to be lost. Float ore, water-worn particles of ore; fragments of vein material found on the surface, away from the vein outcrop. --Raymond. Float stone (Arch.), a siliceous stone used to rub stonework or brickwork to a smooth surface. Float valve, a valve or cock acted upon by a float. See Float, 1 (b) .| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
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